Keep an eye on this section if you’re looking for a tip on an upcoming sporting event. 

By Dragon Bet’s Founder James Lovell 

Things are never boring when you’re a bookie but they’re never straightforward either. 

April is usually a good month for us, and I’ll let you into a little secret – Aintree is often a bit of a bookies gold mine. However, nothing is usual when your job relies on the fortune of fate and that goldmine has nearly sent us working down a coalmine.  

The National meeting is big, it’s not Cheltenham big, but it’s next best thing. The big hitters came on site and were making bets that certainly made us stand up and take notice.  A 5K bet on one winner at 6/4 certainly made me wish I’d paid attention in school and gotten a proper job. Then 2k on the Grand National winner paying £17,000 nearly sent us to the job centre! What made it worse was that I tipped the winner in this column last month – hope you listened.  

Talking of the National, it was a rough old race this year. I’m not it’s biggest fan and I hope that horseracing takes a while to think about adding some more improvements to the safety of the participants. On a whole, racehorses are treated like kings but the National is a race on its own, with its own dangers. This year it left what could be a bad impression of the incredible welfare and care that the animals get all year round.  

With April done and May now here, it’s the end of the jump season and the start of the flat. The first of the classics will be run at the famous Newmarket Rowley Mile racecourse and I’ve got a fancy for one in the 2000 Guineas due to be run on the 6th of May.  

Chaldean trained by Andrew Balding. This son of Frankel has won its last four races including the prestigious Dewhurst stakes run at the same track. He looks to my eye like he could be a little bit special and I’ll be doing my best not to take any big bets this time.  

On the subject of those big bets, as a bookie I love to take them but as a gambler it’s easy to get carried away, we perform strict due diligence checks to ensure that the people having the large stakes are doing so within their means. It’s important you always bet within yours and keep it fun because that’s what gambling is. It’s fun, its life enhancing and when you back a winner it’s even better. So good luck if you are making a bet this month, do it responsibly and feel free to do it with DragonBet as we’re on a bit of a recovery mission!  

Pob lwc and enjoy the May sunshine